Lost at Sea
by crankyhermit
Summary: Land has never seemed so far away. A shipwreck, a revelation, an accident. Slash.


**Lost at Sea (not a team-building exercise)  
**

"So you are a sorcerer," Arthur is saying as he circles Merlin lazily, and Merlin finds himself unable to tear his eyes off that dangerous grin. A calm, reasonable voice inside his head is saying, Really, Arthur? Of all the possible vitally important things that that we could be worrying about right now, you want to focus on my magic? But it is a very small reasonable voice, and of all the possible vitally important things that they could be worrying about right now, Arthur's teeth seem the most... immediate.

"I just didn't, I mean," he starts, and tries to focus on the most important thing that isn't Arthur's teeth. "I was, I don't, can't," he says, waves his arms helplessly. He's never felt so lost, completely out of control, but he's quite literally adrift, and every breath he takes is buffeting him about like a boat in a storm. He's drowning.

"Oh, you idiot. Stop babbling and grab on." Arthur twists around him one more time, then sweeps in, and he belatedly (once he gets over his momentary flash of unreasonable, paralysing terror that Arthur is about to eat him) throws his arms around Arthur just before the second fin on Arthur's back. Out of the corner of his eyes he sees broken wood and the outline of a body floating beside it, and reflexively tightens his grip on Arthur. Arthur turns his head just enough to see what had caught his attention, then turns and thrusts them away into the dark water with a grim flick of his tail, leaving the wreck behind.

When they finally rise to the surface again to check their bearings (Arthur insists he can navigate by the stars; Merlin thinks he's hoping to see land), Arthur says, "Novel way of keeping us from drowning, I'll concede."

Merlin isn't good at reading Arthur at the best of times, but now that Arthur's a shark and Merlin's an octopus clinging to his tail, unable to see his face (it might actually be a good thing that he can't see Arthur's fixed toothy grin anymore, though), he truly has no idea how Arthur is feeling about the whole business and squirms uncomfortably. "I think I know how to change us back," he tells Arthur miserably.

"You'd better," Arthur says, gruff and distant, and Merlin hears the unspoken reproach in the tense body beneath him, wonders if Arthur blames him for not saving the others. He could shape them new bodies, why not a new boat?

"I don't know how I did it," he tries to explain while trying to decide how hard he should hold. At the speed Arthur is swimming, if he loses his grip, he will be lost in the sea, but he's not sure he won't hurt Arthur by squeezing too hard. He keeps tightening and loosening his arms nervously. "I wish I..."

"Don't be ridiculous," Arthur grumbles, and the familiar testiness is comforting, but Arthur is beginning to sound a little strange and strained; then a ripple visibly runs down the shark's long body and shivers through Merlin's own. Startled, Merlin gulps water and loses his concentration for a critical moment, sliding a few inches down Arthur's side before he manages to grab on again. Shaken, he wraps his arms around Arthur and tries to calm himself, flexing his arms uneasily around the lower fins.

Arthur makes a sort of odd grunt and twists around in the water as though trying to shake Merlin off, causing Merlin to ink in panic before Arthur stops himself with an obvious effort of will. Merlin is embarrassed and can't help squirming. "Arthur?"

When Arthur manages to right himself and continue swimming as though nothing had happened, his voice is strangled. "Merlin, you idiot, stop moving."

"What's going on?" He tries to still his arms, but he's no better at controlling his limbs in water than he is on land when frightened and upset. He can't trip over himself, but he can... squirm. Arthur gargles out something incoherent.

Merlin's not sure what's wrong with Arthur, but he's beginning to get the idea when another twitch beneath him makes him very conscious that his arms are sliding and flexing over Arthur's lower fins. Trying to stop moving makes him squeeze involuntarily, and he is almost shaken off when Arthur thrashes once and then freezes, sinking for a few heart-stopping moments. "Arthur! Are you all right?"

"Gnarphlghlrk," says Arthur, and Merlin can feel himself turning all kinds of horrified colours even as he counts all his arms and tries his best not to move a single one. "Gyrffrrklnghh."

Finally, Arthur regains control of himself, and settles into very slow circles. "Get up here," he growls. "To my front fin. And stay still." Merlin inches forward while Arthur twitches uneasily, and they both sigh in relief when Merlin wraps his arms around the large fin on Arthur's back, far away from the tail.

Arthur circles a few more times, then continues onwards. It is a very long time before he speaks again. "I am going to bring us both to shore, you are going to change us back, _and we will never speak of this incident again_, do you understand?"

Merlin squeezes Arthur's fin in agreement, then winces.

**The End**


End file.
